June, this was my biggest month ever! This title might be bit misleading depending on where you are in your writing career. If you’re here for the secrets on how to crush it on this platform, well I’m sorry, this won’t be the read you were hoping for. In fact, it may be the total opposite. My views were so low, I recently came across an article that had more comments, then I had total views for the month. It exciting to see the potential but I would be lying if I said that it didn’t hurt my ego.

After reading that article, I immediately understood how it was able to produce so much engagement. It was real, transparent, and quite negative. Not in a bad way, but in an honest way. There were no five steps to solving a tough problem, just a realistic look into how people get into the problems they are often looking to escape.

That’s my goal too. A realistic look into writing online. We see so many writers talk about their success, but very few document the moments before that. My goal is to document every step and answer the question a lot of you are probably asking. “Is Medium still worth it?”

June 2024

So how much did I make in June? With 117 views and 55 reads, I made a whopping $2.42!

Believe it or not, I’m happy with my payout. I know $2.42 is not a lot of money, but if you read May’s report, you would know that I compare my articles to dividend stocks.

If I were investing in the stock market, $2.42 would be the equivalent payout of about 9 shares of Realty Income Corp (O), which would cost me around $525 give or take.

This is how I motivate myself to keep writing, I recommend you find your reason, as the beginning will likely be slow.

Why Was May’s Income Higher?

If you look back at the May’s report, you may have noticed that I had fewer views, and fewer reads, but a higher payout. Why, you ask?

Because none of my new articles received a push. In May, a single article of mine received more views than all of my June articles combined. To provide more context, only $1 of my earned income came from the June articles; the remaining $2.42 was distributed over my entire library of content.

That’s very exciting. It shows me that these articles will continue to gain exposure as I write more. The bigger the library, the bigger the potential payout.

Lastly, you can also see after the 6th of June, my audience became disengaged. It’s not a coincidence. The last article I published on the platform was on June 6th. The audience became disengaged because I became disengaged.

What to Expect for Next Month?

Next month on Medium is likely going to be a struggle. I’m preparing for my 2025 goals. I know to some of you, goals for the new year is a red flag, but I’ve found that I need to have a destination planned, our else I won’t go anywhere.

While Medium is a big part of my plan, I need to get some other things set up, which likely cut into my writing time. This isn’t entirely a bad thing. Part of me wants to see how my articles perform without me churning out content. While I got a look into this during the second half of June, it may be interesting to see what taking a full month looks like.

Hopefully that’s not the case, and I find some time to write, even if it’s just a few short-form articles, which shockingly do really well.

So, is Medium worth it? I’m not sure, but if you plan to only write for two months, this is an honest look into where your numbers may be.

June’s Most Popular Article

My Plan to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month by 2025

My June 2024 Medium Income Report was originally published in Wealth Window on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Why writing beats investing for me

Dividend investing is one of my favorite forms of “passive income”. With each stock purchase, you receive a quarterly cash percentage that you can reinvest into the company or simply pocket.

For instance, purchasing one share of Starbucks stock would earn you $2.28 annually or $0.57 each quarter.

While the dividends may not seem astronomical initially, they do add up if you can buy a large amount of shares. This concept made so much sense to me. Just last month, I invested over $1,000 into the market, expecting a $28 return. This translated to $2.33 a month in dividends and I couldn’t wait to receive my payout.

Around this time, I decided to take Medium more seriously. After a few weeks of diving into content on the platform, I published my own on May 14th. This was my first article in over a year!

Why I Choose Writing Over Uninterested Friends

The article didn’t take me long to write, but I felt it was a strong piece that really captured my feelings. During the month of May it received 5 reads and earned me $2.71.

Feeling discouraged, wondering how I would break through on Medium. Earning just $2.71 from five reads made me question my approach. However, I didn’t give up and chose to push forward.

I wrote two more articles that month — one garnered 4 reads and $0.51, the other 13 reads and $0.36. In total, my May earnings reached $4.84, leading me to question if Medium was the right platform for me.

This all changed on June 3rd. I received an email from M1 Finance, the platform I use to buy my dividend stocks. They informed me that my dividend of $3.04 was now available in my account.

I was proud of myself, my journey as a dividend investor began. A $1,000 investment was now earning me $3.04. It wasn’t much, but I took my money and I bought income. It could only go up from here.

It then hit me — my articles had earned more than my $1,000 investment. I was paid more for my three articles than I was for my several shares of stock.

This realization changed my perspective on Medium. Of course, I would love to be one of the top writers on the platform, earn a reasonable amount of money, and share income statements with you all. But I recognize that I’m not there yet, it’s early in my journey — both in writing and dividend investing.

It’s crucial to keep writing, even if the payout is small, because every story, like each dividend stock, contributes to a greater goal. Now, I view each article as an individual share. Each one with different potential to take off or simply earn me steady “dividends”.

This approach has made it so much more enjoyable to show up everyday, and I look forward to see how large my Medium portfolio will grow.

How I Earned $20,000 Writing A Daily Newsletter

My May 2024 Medium Income — Report was originally published in Wealth Window on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.